Gas turbine engines, such as those utilized on aircraft, utilize a compressor section to compress air. The compressed air is provided to a combustor, where the compressed is mixed with a fuel and ignited. The resultant gasses are expelled and expanded over a turbine section. The expansion of the resultant gasses drives the rotors within the turbine section to rotate. The rotational energy is provided to the compressor section via a shaft connection. In some examples, such as a geared turbofan engine, the rotational energy is also provided to a fan section forward of the compressor through a geared connection.
A typical turbine section includes multiple turbine stages with each stage being a pairing of turbine rotors and turbine stators. The turbine rotors are driven to rotate as the combustion gasses pass through the turbine section. In order to prevent combustion gasses from passing radially outward of the turbine blades, blade outer air seals (BOAS) are disposed in close radial proximity to the turbine blades. Similarly, in order to ensure that fluid flow through the turbine has desirable flow characteristics, turbine vane structures are mounted within the flowpath.
Turbine vanes, blade outer air seals, and other turbine flowpath components are mounted to the engine static structure using multiple platforms. Due to the exposure to the combustion gasses, the turbine flowpath components, and the corresponding platforms, are exposed to extreme temperatures. In order to reduce or minimize the impact of those extreme temperatures, the platforms supporting turbine flowpath components in some examples are actively cooled.